Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Western New Mexico (Exhibition) on October 27, 2026 , Win , 82, to, 59
M Basketball
vs Western New Mexico (Exhibition)
W 82-59
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Monday, November 2
Phoenix, Ariz.
7 p.m.
Grand Canyon
vs
Texas Southern
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
11/1/2026 6:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro, Lopes Insider Blog
GCU loaded roster with depth, versatility to earn high expectations
When Bryce Drew spoke at his alma mater's May commencement, the Grand Canyon head coach reminded Valparaiso graduates that they had been equipped well by the university and implored them, "Shine your light to everybody in this world."
As his seventh season at the helm of Lopes basketball starts Monday night at home against Texas Southern, the program is game to graduate to the next level of college basketball and let its light shine so brightly that it reflects back upon GCU.
In just its 14th season in Division I, the Lopes have leaped onto the national landscape to the point that Drew's successful track record and a rare home atmosphere dubbed "The Biggest Party in College Basketball" led to GCU's deepest, most balanced roster. Between the retention of top players and recruitment of touted transfers, this season's Lopes seek their fifth NCAA Tournament visit in seven years with metrics putting GCU in the national top 50 and NCAA analyst Andy Katz calling it a Final Four darkhorse.
"It's a great luxury to have guys back who actually started for us, know our program, played in front of our fans and played in the league," said Drew, whose Lopes teams rank 11th nationally for winning percentage (.729, 140-52) over the past six seasons. "It's a great starting point.
"We wanted to bring in guys who really wanted to win and guys who really wanted to compete. We've seen that in practice … It has made our guys better on a daily basis going against other good players in practice."
Drew cites depth, aggression and competitiveness as core traits of this season's team, and the depth of 13 players with Division I starting experience (12 with 24 or more starts) jumps off the hardwood.
Drew's desired defining characteristics from here to March are discipline, effort and focus, as GCU attempts to become a Mountain West champion a season after having the most successful debut season in conference history. Although the Lopes received two national AP Top 25 votes, New Mexico eked by GCU as preseason favorite by one poll point.
"I just want to point out Grand Canyon got the most first-place votes," New Mexico head coach Eric Olen said. "I think maybe they're the favorites. I'm really impressed by the staff and what they've done in terms of the amount of talent they've been able to put on the roster."
That is a commonality for those looking at what GCU, which has a schedule to impress because its season-opening four-game homestand will roll into an eight-game stretch that includes a home game against Santa Clara, games at Oklahoma State and Memphis and neutral-site games against preseason No. 1 Florida in nearby Jacksonville and Saint Louis and either Stanford or Colorado in Palm Desert, California.
These Lopes want to play faster to fit their personnel and depth, to the point that they worked on getting the ball to the 3-point line in three seconds or fewer upon getting possession.
The offensive firepower will be guided by senior point guard Dylan Darling, a St. John's transfer coming off a Sweet 16 team to join fellow Preseason All-Mountain honorees Efe Demirel, Jaden Henley and Makaih Williams.
"Having a guard that's dynamic with the ball and that can make decisions fits really well," Drew said of Darling.
But Drew always starts with "D." Since Drew took over GCU in 2020, the Lopes have ranked fifth nationally for opponent field goal percentage (40.2%) and third for opponent 3-point percentage (30.8%)
"Grand Canyon has really been tipping its hat on the defensive end, so we're just getting Coach's game plan and executing it on the defensive end," said senior forward Amarion Dickerson, a 6-foot-7 stopper who transferred from USC after playing an exhibition game at GCU last season and then losing his season to a hip fracture.
There are 12 Lopes, seven of whom have been all-conference honorees, who could figure into the rotation this season, although Monday night's season opener will be the first time that all of them have been available at once since workouts began in June.
By position, here is a look at the 2026-27 Lopes rotation:
Darling is the consummate offensive engine who sets up teammates, pushes tempo and organizes offensive sets while still giving GCU a tenacious on-ball defender with the grit of a former NFL linebacker's son. Known for a game-winning shot that put St. John's in the Sweet 16, the 6-foot-2 guard had a 2.6-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and an 11-0 record when playing 25 or more minutes last season.
"It's a lot of fun playing with good players," Darling said of his GCU team. "It makes life easier on everybody."
The point is layered with experience becasue the Lopes made another veteran addition in Tre Holloman, who started 43 games and averaged nine points over the past two seasons for North Carolina State and Michigan State. Holloman, who has played in nine NCAA Tournament games, can man either guard position and adds shooting ability (40.2% on 3-pointers last season) and tenacity.
"If we really, really lock in, we could be one of the top programs in the country," Holloman said.
Micah Tucker gives Drew the luxury of a third point guard with starting experience after the 6-foot-3 Atlanta native started the last 28 games as a freshman for Georgia State, where he averaged 13.5 points and 3.0 assists last season.
Henley, at 6-7, is the only All-Mountain West first-team honoree returning besides New Mexico's Jake Hall. Running it back with the same program for the first time in his college career, Henley already posted a GCU season with averages of 17.7 points (third in the Mountain West), 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals – one of four players nationally to post those numbers.
"We have a ton of guys who can handle the ball and being able to play off them and to defend are huge things for me," Henley said. "With how competitive we play, I'm excited just to be out there with them and go at everybody. Being able to play out there with that kind of energy and physicality is fun."
On a team that brings back 60% of last season's scoring, Henley (17.7) and Williams (14.0) represent the biggest chunks of that. In his third GCU season, Williams is ready to shoulder a larger role with a stronger upper body and bigger voice in leadership.
"He looks even more explosive this year than last year," Drew said of Williams. "He's a big part of this team.
"We feel like he's at his best when he's in scoring mode a lot because he's such a prolific scorer on three levels."
Dickerson may be the overlooked gem of the talent influx because of the impact he makes defensively while still being a player who can fill the fastbreak lanes and stretch the floor with boundless energy. The 6-7 USC transfer has not played a regular-season game since getting injured when the Trojans were 8-0 last November. His anxiousness to compete again makes him like a soda bottle being shaken for a year.
Prior to USC, Dickerson was the 2024-25 Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year for Robert Morris while averaging 13.3 points per game. Because of his rebounding ability, he can even slide to the power forward spot with a 7-foot wingspan.
"Being around the guys I'm with and the coaching staff and being able to compete, it's a blessing," Dickerson said. "I'm just excited to get out there. I'm built with energy. I haven't played in so long that any chance I get to compete this year, I'm taking the most advantage of the opportunity."
Jaden Zimmerman, a 6-5 junior, adds another established scorer after averaging 15.1 points for Quinnipiac last season. The New York City native is an explosive offensive threat from rim runs to perimeter shooting.
"Everybody's averaged like 15 points or played at a good level to where if somebody says something to a teammate, they aren't going to be like, 'Bro, why are you talking to me like that?' " Zimmerman said. "They're going to be like, 'I got you. Next play.' "
The third backcourt returnee, fifth-year guard Caleb Shaw, was working toward the end of last season and this summer to get back to full health for the start of this season. Although his offseason work with the team has been limited, Shaw's ability to affect games with his aggression and perimeter shooting is well-known. Shaw started 11 games last season with 7.8 points per game in 20.9 minutes per game and 37% 3-point shooting.
Demirel has benefitted from a summer in which his English and familiarity with American college basketball are markedly better. Those aspects came along last season for Demirel to average 8.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 22.5 minutes per game.
"I'm feeling much better," Demirel said. "We've worked hard. I got more confident about everything because I know the plays and the coaches."
But GCU now has a two-headed monster in the middle with 6-10 senior Tyler Behrend also at center. Behrend took a circuitous route to GCU from down Camelback Road in Phoenix, where he we
nt unrecruited out of tiny Valley Lutheran High School before a growth spurt while serving in the Navy. He played junior college basketball while his ship was docked and caught the eye of Tulsa, where he started for a 30-8 team that reached the NIT championship game last season.
The way Demirel and Behrend push each other in practice is indicative of how the team competes daily.
"They hit each other physically a lot more than we did last year," Drew said.
The power forward spot features another pair of touted newcomers in Wake Forest 6-8 transfer Omaha Biliew, GCU's first former McDonald's All-American, and East Tennessee State 6-8 transfer Blake Barkley, who may be the team's best 3-point shooter.
Biliew has shown tremendous progress with his 3-point shot this summer to give the Lopes a wrinkle with big men who can spread the floor. That is supplemented by Barkley's driving ability and Biliew's work in the post.
"Everybody has a very vital role to the team," Biliew said. "Each of us brings something unique. All of us complement each other very well by how we play. We're very selfless. I just think we're that good, from top to bottom, that every one of us could start. That makes us that much better."
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As his seventh season at the helm of Lopes basketball starts Monday night at home against Texas Southern, the program is game to graduate to the next level of college basketball and let its light shine so brightly that it reflects back upon GCU.
In just its 14th season in Division I, the Lopes have leaped onto the national landscape to the point that Drew's successful track record and a rare home atmosphere dubbed "The Biggest Party in College Basketball" led to GCU's deepest, most balanced roster. Between the retention of top players and recruitment of touted transfers, this season's Lopes seek their fifth NCAA Tournament visit in seven years with metrics putting GCU in the national top 50 and NCAA analyst Andy Katz calling it a Final Four darkhorse."It's a great luxury to have guys back who actually started for us, know our program, played in front of our fans and played in the league," said Drew, whose Lopes teams rank 11th nationally for winning percentage (.729, 140-52) over the past six seasons. "It's a great starting point.
"We wanted to bring in guys who really wanted to win and guys who really wanted to compete. We've seen that in practice … It has made our guys better on a daily basis going against other good players in practice."
Drew cites depth, aggression and competitiveness as core traits of this season's team, and the depth of 13 players with Division I starting experience (12 with 24 or more starts) jumps off the hardwood.
Drew's desired defining characteristics from here to March are discipline, effort and focus, as GCU attempts to become a Mountain West champion a season after having the most successful debut season in conference history. Although the Lopes received two national AP Top 25 votes, New Mexico eked by GCU as preseason favorite by one poll point.
"I just want to point out Grand Canyon got the most first-place votes," New Mexico head coach Eric Olen said. "I think maybe they're the favorites. I'm really impressed by the staff and what they've done in terms of the amount of talent they've been able to put on the roster."
That is a commonality for those looking at what GCU, which has a schedule to impress because its season-opening four-game homestand will roll into an eight-game stretch that includes a home game against Santa Clara, games at Oklahoma State and Memphis and neutral-site games against preseason No. 1 Florida in nearby Jacksonville and Saint Louis and either Stanford or Colorado in Palm Desert, California.These Lopes want to play faster to fit their personnel and depth, to the point that they worked on getting the ball to the 3-point line in three seconds or fewer upon getting possession.
The offensive firepower will be guided by senior point guard Dylan Darling, a St. John's transfer coming off a Sweet 16 team to join fellow Preseason All-Mountain honorees Efe Demirel, Jaden Henley and Makaih Williams.
"Having a guard that's dynamic with the ball and that can make decisions fits really well," Drew said of Darling.
But Drew always starts with "D." Since Drew took over GCU in 2020, the Lopes have ranked fifth nationally for opponent field goal percentage (40.2%) and third for opponent 3-point percentage (30.8%)
"Grand Canyon has really been tipping its hat on the defensive end, so we're just getting Coach's game plan and executing it on the defensive end," said senior forward Amarion Dickerson, a 6-foot-7 stopper who transferred from USC after playing an exhibition game at GCU last season and then losing his season to a hip fracture.
There are 12 Lopes, seven of whom have been all-conference honorees, who could figure into the rotation this season, although Monday night's season opener will be the first time that all of them have been available at once since workouts began in June.
By position, here is a look at the 2026-27 Lopes rotation:
Point guard
When the transfer portal opened, Drew and staff prioritized landing an established point guard. And they knew exactly who they wanted from studying the Big Sky Player of the Year a year prior. GCU pursued Darling when he transferred from Idaho State to St. John's in 2025 but got their playmaker this time.Darling is the consummate offensive engine who sets up teammates, pushes tempo and organizes offensive sets while still giving GCU a tenacious on-ball defender with the grit of a former NFL linebacker's son. Known for a game-winning shot that put St. John's in the Sweet 16, the 6-foot-2 guard had a 2.6-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and an 11-0 record when playing 25 or more minutes last season."It's a lot of fun playing with good players," Darling said of his GCU team. "It makes life easier on everybody."
The point is layered with experience becasue the Lopes made another veteran addition in Tre Holloman, who started 43 games and averaged nine points over the past two seasons for North Carolina State and Michigan State. Holloman, who has played in nine NCAA Tournament games, can man either guard position and adds shooting ability (40.2% on 3-pointers last season) and tenacity.
"If we really, really lock in, we could be one of the top programs in the country," Holloman said.
Micah Tucker gives Drew the luxury of a third point guard with starting experience after the 6-foot-3 Atlanta native started the last 28 games as a freshman for Georgia State, where he averaged 13.5 points and 3.0 assists last season.
Wings
GCU has two more capable playmakers in Henley and Williams returning, but the prevalence of point guard allows the duo to thrive on the wings mostly this season.Henley, at 6-7, is the only All-Mountain West first-team honoree returning besides New Mexico's Jake Hall. Running it back with the same program for the first time in his college career, Henley already posted a GCU season with averages of 17.7 points (third in the Mountain West), 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals – one of four players nationally to post those numbers."We have a ton of guys who can handle the ball and being able to play off them and to defend are huge things for me," Henley said. "With how competitive we play, I'm excited just to be out there with them and go at everybody. Being able to play out there with that kind of energy and physicality is fun."
On a team that brings back 60% of last season's scoring, Henley (17.7) and Williams (14.0) represent the biggest chunks of that. In his third GCU season, Williams is ready to shoulder a larger role with a stronger upper body and bigger voice in leadership.
"He looks even more explosive this year than last year," Drew said of Williams. "He's a big part of this team.
"We feel like he's at his best when he's in scoring mode a lot because he's such a prolific scorer on three levels."
Dickerson may be the overlooked gem of the talent influx because of the impact he makes defensively while still being a player who can fill the fastbreak lanes and stretch the floor with boundless energy. The 6-7 USC transfer has not played a regular-season game since getting injured when the Trojans were 8-0 last November. His anxiousness to compete again makes him like a soda bottle being shaken for a year.
Prior to USC, Dickerson was the 2024-25 Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year for Robert Morris while averaging 13.3 points per game. Because of his rebounding ability, he can even slide to the power forward spot with a 7-foot wingspan.
"Being around the guys I'm with and the coaching staff and being able to compete, it's a blessing," Dickerson said. "I'm just excited to get out there. I'm built with energy. I haven't played in so long that any chance I get to compete this year, I'm taking the most advantage of the opportunity."
Jaden Zimmerman, a 6-5 junior, adds another established scorer after averaging 15.1 points for Quinnipiac last season. The New York City native is an explosive offensive threat from rim runs to perimeter shooting.
"Everybody's averaged like 15 points or played at a good level to where if somebody says something to a teammate, they aren't going to be like, 'Bro, why are you talking to me like that?' " Zimmerman said. "They're going to be like, 'I got you. Next play.' "
The third backcourt returnee, fifth-year guard Caleb Shaw, was working toward the end of last season and this summer to get back to full health for the start of this season. Although his offseason work with the team has been limited, Shaw's ability to affect games with his aggression and perimeter shooting is well-known. Shaw started 11 games last season with 7.8 points per game in 20.9 minutes per game and 37% 3-point shooting.
Frontcourt
The GCU frontcourt flexes to the point that returning starter and Preseason All-Mountain West pick Efe Demirel, a 7-1 center from Turkey, came off the bench for GCU's home exhibition game.Demirel has benefitted from a summer in which his English and familiarity with American college basketball are markedly better. Those aspects came along last season for Demirel to average 8.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 22.5 minutes per game.
"I'm feeling much better," Demirel said. "We've worked hard. I got more confident about everything because I know the plays and the coaches."
But GCU now has a two-headed monster in the middle with 6-10 senior Tyler Behrend also at center. Behrend took a circuitous route to GCU from down Camelback Road in Phoenix, where he we
nt unrecruited out of tiny Valley Lutheran High School before a growth spurt while serving in the Navy. He played junior college basketball while his ship was docked and caught the eye of Tulsa, where he started for a 30-8 team that reached the NIT championship game last season.The way Demirel and Behrend push each other in practice is indicative of how the team competes daily.
"They hit each other physically a lot more than we did last year," Drew said.
The power forward spot features another pair of touted newcomers in Wake Forest 6-8 transfer Omaha Biliew, GCU's first former McDonald's All-American, and East Tennessee State 6-8 transfer Blake Barkley, who may be the team's best 3-point shooter.
Biliew has shown tremendous progress with his 3-point shot this summer to give the Lopes a wrinkle with big men who can spread the floor. That is supplemented by Barkley's driving ability and Biliew's work in the post.
"Everybody has a very vital role to the team," Biliew said. "Each of us brings something unique. All of us complement each other very well by how we play. We're very selfless. I just think we're that good, from top to bottom, that every one of us could start. That makes us that much better."
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